The Indonesian Army (Tentara Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Darat: TNI-AD) has taken delivery of another 16 Leopard 2 RI (Republic of Indonesia) main battle tanks (MBTs).

The vehicles, which are part of a contract for 61 MBTs of the type with Rheinmetall Defence, were unloaded at the Port of Tanjung Priok's vehicle-handling terminal on 28 December, said its operator, PT Indonesia Kendaraan Terminal.

According to an IHS Jane's report from September 2016, Indonesia had by then taken delivery of 24 Leopard 2 RI MBTs. Unloading of this latest tranche in December brings the number of tanks delivered to 40.

The TNI-AD is expected to receive its final tranche of Leopard 2 RI MBTs by March 2017.

December 29, 2016

The Type 90B 122 mm multiple launch rocket system, similar to the one received by Indonesia in 2016. The Indonesian Marines Corps is now equipped with the Type 90B multiple rocket system from China. System may be equipped with indigenously developed R-Han 122 B rockets. (photo : Army Recognition)

The Indonesian Marines Corps (Korps Marinir, or KORMAR) has taken delivery of four units of the Type 90B 122 mm (40-round) multiple rocket system (MRS) from China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO).

Sources within the service told IHS Jane's on 27 December that first test firings of the system are being conducted until the end of the month at various undisclosed locations throughout East Java.

The systems have been delivered under a 2015 contract signed between the Indonesian Ministry of Defence and NORINCO. Indonesia is the first known export customer of the Type 90B variant.

According to IHS Jane's Land Warfare Platforms: Artillery & Air Defence , the Type 90B MRS consists of a Tiema SC2030 6x6 truck with four rows of 10 tubes mounted on a rotating cradle assembly.

Each tube can be loaded with 122 mm missiles, such as those from NORINCO's family of fin-stabilised unguided calibre rockets featuring composite solid propellant and maximum ranges of between 20,000 m and 40,000 m. The rockets can be fired either singly, or in salvo with 0.5 seconds between rounds.

The Type 90B system has also been marketed with the capability to launch the Fire Dragon (BRE7) 40 122 mm rocket, which features an inertial navigation system (INS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) guidance system, although it is not immediately known if Indonesia has plans to procure this variant of missiles.

IHS Jane's has, however, received confirmation from multiple sources within the KORMAR that fire control subsystems associated with the Type 90B, such as the HJ-1 mini-computer, have not been included under this contract, and that all firing parameters on the system will be manually calculated.

Japan is seeking to win a contract to supply Thailand with an air defense radar system built by Mitsubishi Electric Corp, as it looks to counter growing Chinese influence in the Southeast Asian nation, according to four Japanese government officials and one industry source.

The effort is part of a wider push by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to bolster its position in the region along with its U.S. ally. The Chief of Staff of Japan's Air Self Defense Force, Yoshiyuki Sugiyama, traveled to Bangkok last month to discuss areas of possible cooperation.

Japan expects the Thai military government to begin accepting competitive bids as early as next year as it upgrades and adds to its existing U.S. and European radar systems, the sources said. It is unclear who else may be bidding.

The value of such a contract is unclear as the specifications for the system have not yet been released. Radar systems built by Mitsubishi and other companies for Japan can stretch to hundreds of millions of dollars depending on the complexity and coverage. The sources said Japan would look to offer a lower price system because of Thailand's limited defense budget.

Japan's push for stronger ties with Thailand, will benefit the U.S. given the growing tensions over China’s claims in the South China Sea, according to the sources. Japan, which until 2014 had a ban on arms exports, has not previously sold military equipment to Thailand.

Since the 2014 coup brought the current Thai government to power, the U.S. has had strained relations with its old ally, which served as a staging ground for American forces during the Vietnam War, offering access to strategic airfields and ports.

In July, Thailand agreed to buy three Chinese-built submarines worth around $1 billion in a deal that illustrated Beijing's willingness to fill the vacuum left by Washington. And last month, Thai and Chinese military planes performed acrobatic demonstrations together at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, around 260 km (161 miles) northeast of Bangkok, as a prelude to the first joint military drill between the nations' air forces.

A company spokeswoman said Mitsubishi Electric does not discuss individual deals.

"While we are aware that Thailand is moving ahead with the deployment of air defense radar, we can't comment on the activities of individual corporations," a spokesman for Japan's defense ministry said.

A Thailand Defense Ministry spokesman, Kongcheep Tantravanich, said that "many countries want to sell it to us but we have to see if the system fits."

Pongsak Semachai, a spokesman for the Royal Thai Air Force, said a Japanese company had approached the force about an air defense system. He declined to name the company.

"The air force has not yet decided whether to buy the air defense system from a Japanese company but the company representatives presented the idea to us informally as they knew that our air defense radar system is about to expire," Pongsak told reporters, without giving further details.

Washington has a statutory obligation to withhold aid to militaries involved in coups against democratically elected governments. That includes restricting its arms makers from selling military kit to the country. Japan does not face such restrictions in engaging with the Thai government.

Tokyo is worried that China's wooing of Thailand could further split members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and blunt criticism of China's island building in the South China Sea. Beijing has claimed most of the resource-rich waterway as its own, sparking protests from other claimants, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

The radar Japan proposes for the deal is a variant on Mitsubishi Electric's fixed-position FSP-3 radar, an older generation system that has been used by Japan's Self Defense Forces to detect air threats, the sources said.

A South Korean think tank – North Korea’s Intellectuals Solidarity (NKIS) – said that Pyongyang is working to adapt its Banghyun 5 drone to carry a dirty bomb for attacking South Korea’s presidential office and other facilities.

Kim Heung-kwang, executive director of NKIS, told a press conference that work started back in 2012 but the drone is still lagging behind other countries in terms of capabilities.

Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid is said to have met the heads of European defense companies during his visit to London last month and he is said to have told them that the purchase of 18 fighters for RMAF under the MMRCA project has been shelved due to the 1MBD scandal.

In the latest example of the misuse of increasingly popular social media, none other than Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif fell prey to an internet hoax.

A fake news report that went viral on the internet quoted Israel’s defence minister as threatening to “destroy Pakistan with a nuclear attack”.

This infuriated Khawaja Asif, who is a regular internet user and frequently tweets from his personal account. Probably a bit too offended that the presumed warning came from Israel, a country Pakistan refuses to recognise, the minister played it too hastily to even stop and verify the authenticity of the news item.

Asif took to Twitter in a scathing post directed at Israel in a bid to pay the hostile state in the same coin. “Israeli defence minister threatens nuclear retaliation presuming Pak role in Syria against Da’ish… Israel forgets Pakistan is a nuclear state too.”

The fake story, titled “Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops to Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack,” published on a less known website awdnews.com, even got the Israeli defence minister’s name wrong; attributing the statement to a former minister, Moshe Yaalon, while Avigdor Lieberman is Israel’s current defence minister.

The typo-laden headline published on December 20 was not the first time a fake news article was posted on the website. Earlier, the website had published an article with the headline, “Clinton is staging a military coup against Trump.”

The Israeli defence ministry responded on Twitter to clarify that the report was false. “The statement attributed to former defence minister Yaalon [about] Pakistan was never said,” the ministry wrote in the post directed at Asif. In a second post it said, “Reports referred to by the Pakistani defence minister are entirely false.”

Asif has not yet responded to the Israelis but his post has been retweeted more than 400 times, many mocking him for his mistake. International media widely carried the story, mocking Asif for reacting to a sensitive matter without even an initial background check.

This is not the first time a fabricated news item has caused a storm. Just days ago, internet was flooded with fake news that a top Pakistani military official who was poised to get an all-important assignment belonged to a minority faith, which proved completely baseless. Even a renowned cleric, who also fell prey to the hoax, released a video, urging the authorities not to consider the said army man’s name for the coveted position because of presumed religious background. It later transpired that the said bigwig was a practicing Muslim.

In the US, the fake news phenomenon has sent major internet companies scrambling to respond amid claims that bogus reports that proliferated ahead of the US presidential election may have skewed the result.

Last month, an internet rumour had the makings of a bizarrely sordid scandal involving a top political aide to Hillary Clinton, allegations of pedophilia and a restaurant in an upscale part of Washington.

Facebook has said it will introduce tools to prevent fake news stories from spreading on its platform.

While Pakistan’s Parliament has carried out legislation to declare cybercrime a punishable offence with the imposition of stern penalties, the misuse goes unabated. Reports often surface about less cyber-savvy internet users being duped into losing their hard earned money by online scammers and youths falling prey to organised gangs that trap the naive youngsters by posing as ‘beautiful females’ to mint money from men and boys. In addition, internet blackmail with the landing of personal photos, videos and related information of Facebook users into the hands of unscrupulous elements, has also seen a rise.